So as I’m sat in the plug, knackered after yesterday’s 12-hour-long SU Christmas party, it’s finally hitting me- My first semester as Sport officer is over! It’s been an amazing learning experience and I’ve had so much fun so far, and it is completely down to the amazing team that make up SU Sport!
There have been quite a few difficulties throughout the semester, but let’s keep the focus on the positives (only happy Christmas vibes plz).
So, here are a few highlights/achievements:
- Incredible spectator events in Rugby at the Rec, and Sporting showcases with Basketball and Lacrosse putting on some great performances!
- Committees engaging with the inclusivity award and loads of mental health peer support sessions (Mental health in sport, Look after your mate, Mental health first aid)
- Worked on reducing the emotional barriers to sporting participation with initiatives such as speed dating for sport and Talent ID, with really great turnouts and a lot of people going on to club sessions and becoming members!
- Club organised events that have given our students the opportunity to get more competitive or recreational experience, many whilst fundraising for some amazing causes! To mention a few: Team Chalk, Boxing, Basketball, Latin and ballroom, Trampolining, Kickboxing, and Dodgeball.
- Further improvements to recreational and social sport, with more Bath Active sessions, Bath Active Bites and loads of people signing up to be Bath Activators!
- Club fundraising, volunteering and signing up for charitable causes! So many awesome things to highlight- Club members signing up to be donors with Bath Marrow, Kickboxing raising over £1000 for the Genesis trust and SU sport clubs making the majority of the university’s Movember total (and growing some fiiiiiine moustaches).
- Ensuring more collaboration between all the parts of SU Sport, with the new committee nights and more committee related working groups. These provide opportunities to network, problem-solve, engage with some of the problems that we face, and look at how we can take a collective approach to solving some of the most pressing problems in Sport in HE.
- Teams of the week, putting in a shift and getting some great results: Lacrosse W1, Table Tennis M2, Rugby Union M1, Basketball M1, Cycling W1’s, Waterpolo W1’s, Touch Rugby 1’s, Hockey M1’s, Ultimate W1’s. And the team of the semester, Lacrosse M2’s who are unbeaten so far as a BUCS team, and providing great development opportunities (Taekwondo and Volleyball W1’s in 2nd and 3rd respectively)!
- Working to make sure that the role of Sport officer is more strategic, student-facing and less operational!
- Lots of successful club applications to the Alumni fund!
- Putting sporting facilities back on the map, lobbying the university to prioritise the build of two new floodlit 3G pitches that are fit for purpose (and more environmentally friendly than the norm)!
- Doing more to put our incredible volunteers in the spotlight- consulting them on how we can improve our current setup. Out of this (and closely linked to my manifesto, the Volunteer Of The Week and Committee Of The Semester were born, to ensure that we are recognizing our volunteers more regularly, as well as the collective efforts of club committees! It was great to see so many nominations coming in for this, in the semester of its creation we had some really competitive weeks. I’d like to thank all those who noticed and nominated their committee members! Huge congrats to all of our volunteers of the week over the semester: Saskia Kreutzfeldt, Laura Rodriguez, Jasmine Kenny, Nye Davis, Izzy Ovens, Caleb Staple, Chris Hagen. Another huge congratulations to the Lacrosse committee who won the committee of the semester (with Tennis and Volleyball in 2nd and 3rd respectively)!
This is genuinely only a snapshot of what’s been going on in a jam-packed semester, there's always so much going on behind the scenes!
I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who helped to shape the SU Sport and helped me throughout semester 1!
- Members of SU sport: People that have got involved and immersed themselves in a community outside of their regular circles! You’ve not only contributed to sessions, but you've given feedback, encouraged mates to get active, interacted with others and made getting involved in sport enjoyable! Participation-wise, we’ve had a healthy start to the year! On the competitive side, we’ve had an incredible load of results so far this season, meaning team of the week has been hotly contested every week!
- Our sporting volunteers: Committee members, coaches, officials, event volunteers, regardless of what your role is, we couldn’t provide this amazing sport offer to 1/3 of the university population without you. You are seriously amazing and I am so thankful that you dedicate your time and efforts to affect the areas that you are passionate about.
- The SU sport team: this lot have given me so much guidance throughout my introduction to this role. I’m so thankful for the approachable, knowledgeable staff that we have, and am so grateful for their advice and help throughout this semester!
- The whole SU staff team: I didn’t really appreciate the amount of overlap that this role would have with other areas and I have absolutely loved getting to work with the staff within the SU. A close-knit feel is really hard to achieve with so many staff members, but I’ve always felt welcomed by this lot!
- Sports exec: this lot have absolutely smashed it this year! It’s awesome to see them all taking the lead in various areas this year (Eg. Snowball, Talent ID, Inclusion and Welfare) in addition to providing so much help with the regular operation of SU Sport, and my own manifesto points!! I won’t go into detail about everything they’ve done here, because they’ll be writing their own blog very soon, but this lot are seriously the best team I could have asked for.
- And lastly, the officers: This lot give me life! I absolutely could not do this role without the amazing, supportive, inspiring people that comprise the officer team. The officer job is really unlike any other, so having 5 other people going through a similar journey has really helped me! Eve- a passionate, intelligent, strong person, who is taking her second year by storm! Always ready to challenge anyone to ensure that the student offer is as good as it can be, a very inspiring pres. Alisha- equally, a compassionate, caring friend, and a force to be reckoned with! So perfectly equipped for the role, it’s great to know that you have her in your corner. Jiani- one of the calming, quieter presences, with moments of brilliance, humour and huge excitement that truly make her shine! Works so hard to make the uni a better place for her postgraduates and has been a pleasure to get to know. Ruqia- brings in a huge energy to the team, empowering all those around her and being my number one hype-gal. In-between absolutely smashing her role, Ruqs always has that little bit of time for a laugh, or a de-stress. She has been an incredible friend throughout the good and the bad moments and has so much love for all those around her! Francesco, my neighbour, gym buddy, and now one of my best mates. This guy drew the short straw, having to share an office with my annoying self. The optimism that this guy brings to his job is really incredible to watch, and I’ve seen just how bloody hard this guy works day in, day out! Never seen Franci shy away from a speech or an opportunity to inspire or inform, he has quickly grown into his role, and become the confident, reassuring presence that I look up to.
Anyway, this has been a very long-winded way of saying I'm incredibly grateful for the steps that have been made by SU sport and all the people who have helped along the way!
I hope you have a safe, restful and fun Christmas, and come back ready for round 2! So much to be looking forward to!
Sporty, christmassy love,
Tom